April 15, 2017 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM

The Power and Challenges of Sustaining Mindful Attention

In daily life, our minds and hearts are often confronted with waves of stress, distraction and uncertainty. In our culture we are facing an excess of stimulation, expectations and demands from others and ourselves, and our attention scatters easily.

Mindfulness practice offers us balance and protection from mental and emotional overwhelm. It also helps us to see with greater clarity what changes are needed in our lives and can empower us to make those changes. However, for mindfulness to truly flower in our lives, we have to be able to direct our attention skillfully and rest it with experience long enough for mindfulness to have its effect.

In Buddhism this challenge is described as the need to learn how to aim our attention at the present moment and to learn how to sustain our attention on what matters in the moment. In this daylong we will examine the Buddha’s instruction for developing and utilizing the skills of both aiming and sustaining attention for the development of our meditation and for greater happiness, contentment and fulfillment in daily life.

The practice of sustaining mindfulness will be emphasized. As we work with this principle of sustaining, we can practice staying present long enough to find out the true nature of experience and open to the possibility of greater insight and wisdom.

This silent day of sitting and walking practice with brief dharma talks and discussion will present a number of skillful approaches for developing this capacity of sustaining mindful awareness.

Young Adults (18-26) and Seniors (65+ with limited income) are invited to attend this day for $45

Cost: Sliding Scale $75 – $200